1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shift lever device for a shifting operation of a speed change gear of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
One general type shift lever device for a shifting operation of an automatic speed change gear of a vehicle is arranged on a floor of the vehicle, as illustrated in FIG. 11, so that a shift lever 10 can be operated in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle to be shifted to a selected shifting position.
In this general type shift lever device, a base portion of the shift lever 10 is commonly covered with a shift lever housing. The shift lever housing is generally arranged in a console panel 17 in the interior of the vehicle, with embedded therein, and is provided with a panel lowered in position with respect to the console panel and having at its top surface an elongate slot-like aperture 14 extending over a shifting range of the shift lever 10. In the aperture 14 a slide cover 16 having a through bore is slidably fitted and a shaft portion of the shift lever 10 is inserted in the through bore of the slide cover 16, so that, when the shift lever 10 is operated to shift to a selected shifting position, the slide cover 16 is slid together with the shift lever to allow the aperture 14 of the panel to be always closed, so as to conceal internal equipment from outside.
This conventional type shift lever device is located at a bottom center part of the instrument panel 18. An area around this part of the instrument panel is suitable for placing a canned drink or the like, and also a drawer type, drinking water pan 19 is sometimes provided at an area above that area, so that drinking water or the like may sometimes happen to drip down on the console panel 17. In this case, the dripped drinking water is easy to stay in a recessed part of the console panel 17 lowered in position with respect of the same, and accordingly, cleaning the recessed part requires much time and labor.